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| Mission Trips
"And Jesus said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.'" Mark 16:15
For several years, First United Methodist Church has offered two opportunities for mission service outside of our own community.
Jamaica
Trips to Jamaica's beautiful, but poor, southeastern community of Golden Grove have been ongoing since 2000. Work in this community has included plumbing  repairs and much-needed painting at the Isaac Barrant Medical Center; building a room, replacing termite-infested outer walls, installing electricity and ceilings, fixing plumbing, and painting at the pre-school attached to the Moses Baker Baptist Church. As a result of all of this work, the pre-school was able to meet state guidelines for receiving government funding. Mission team members have also had the opportunity to accompany health care workers on trips to homes in the outlying area.
As important as the work accomplished, are the strong ties that have been forged with our brothers and sisters in Golden Grove. They look forward to each of our trips and the opportunity to renew friendships and to make new friends - as do returning members of our teams! Upon returning from Jamaica, team members often remark that they received much more than they gave during their time there. They also say that they view life very differently after experiencing the faith and joy for living of the Jamaicans even as the Jamaicans struggle to exist on the little they have.
Jamaica mission trips, ten days in length, take place during July or August. Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Binghamton, NY has joined with us for the last two trips, with seven people from each church making up the mission team. The minimum age requirement for teens is 16 years old - with no upward limit.
Red Bird - This year's dates: April 16-23. Deadline for application: March 1
Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Kentucky is the site of our second mission trip opportunity. It is an agency in the Red Bird Missionary Conference related to the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. The Work Camp is but one of many areas of ministry offered by Red Bird. Other mission areas include education, health services, community outreach, and retail operations.
Each year since 1998 inter-generational teams of four to thirteen people have traveled to Kentucky to help with home repair in the heart of Appalachia. The age requirement for teens is 14, with no age limit for adults. Red Bird determines home repair needs, with a focus on helping the elderly and disabled. First United Methodist Church's team chooses its project in advance of the trip.
First United Methodist Church's mission team drives to Red Bird during the Oneonta City School District's spring break. The team leaves on a Saturday morning and returns to Oneonta late the following Saturday night. Over the years, work has included building a room addition, replacing decks at two homes, painting the interior and exterior of homes and repairing and replacing roofs. There are also many opportunities for work other than home repair - grounds-keeping, working in the kitchen, community clothing store, medical center or craft store, preparing Campbell's labels for redemption - all on the Red Bird campus.
Once again, the actual work accomplished is only one aspect of the trip. As our teams live, eat, pray, laugh and work with each other, the Red Bird staff and church groups from across the country team members grow spiritually and emotionally. And the personal contact the mission teams have with each Kentucky family they work with is priceless.
As mission teams go forth from Oneonta's First United Methodist Church, they go with the blessing of our extremely supportive congregation. Team members serve as representatives of our church, and their opportunities to spread God's word and love through their work, words and actions are limitless. Just as lives are changed through the experience of a week at Red Bird or ten days in Jamaica, we hope, too, that we enrich the lives of those we meet by being ambassadors for Christ. |
